Gabbard unleashes task force to boost intelligence community's transparency, end government weaponization



Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced Tuesday that the agency formed a new task force dedicated to ending the weaponization of the federal government.

A DNI news release explained that the action aims to restore trust in the intelligence community by "restoring transparency and accountability."

'We are already identifying wasteful spending in real time, streamlining outdated processes, reviewing documents for declassification, and leading ongoing efforts to root out abuses of power and politicization.'

The DNI explained that the new task force, dubbed the Director's Initiatives Group, is already "starting with investigating weaponization, rooting out [deep-seated] politicization, exposing unauthorized disclosures of classified intelligence, and declassifying information that serves a public interest."

The DIG is also working on examining the intelligence community's structure to assess how personnel could improve efficiency and slash wasteful government spending.

So far, the DIG has reviewed documents for potential declassification, including information about the origin of the COVID-19 virus, anomalous health incidents, and the former administration's "domestic surveillance and censorship actions against Americans."

The agency is also considering declassifying materials related to Crossfire Hurricane and the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.

"Per POTUS's directive, DNI Gabbard has taken steps to restore trust in the Intelligence Community by revoking security clearances for individuals who no longer have an active role in national security — including former President Biden, Liz Cheney, and Hillary Clinton," the DNI's press release read.

It added, "Further, the director held employees who participated in sexually explicit NSA chat rooms accountable and has begun pursuing unauthorized leaks of classified information within the IC."

Gabbard stated, "In order to rebuild trust in the Intelligence Community and execute the tasks required by President Trump's intelligence-related executive orders, I established the Director's Initiatives Group to bring about transparency and accountability across the IC. We are already identifying wasteful spending in real time, streamlining outdated processes, reviewing documents for declassification, and leading ongoing efforts to root out abuses of power and politicization."

"President Trump promised the American people maximum transparency and accountability," she continued. "We are committed to executing the president's vision and focusing the Intelligence Community on its core mission: ensuring our security by providing the president and policymakers with timely, apolitical, objective, relevant intelligence to inform their decision-making to ensure the safety, security, and freedom of the American people."

Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) applauded Gabbard for establishing the task force.

"Actions speak louder than words," he wrote in a post on X. "And since being sworn in, [Gabbard] has shown her commitment to addressing the degradation of transparency within the Intelligence Community, as well as, instilling a culture of accountability. Efforts such as this are required to rebuild trust in our Intelligence Community and ensure that the brave men and women there live up to their oaths."

He encouraged Gabbard to instruct the DIG "to review the National Intelligence Council's process for developing intelligence assessments that note and address dissenting views."

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AP caught red-handed making false claims about Gabbard — forced to retract story



The Associated Press was forced to withdraw one of its Monday articles after it falsely claimed that U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin "very good friends."

The now-retracted article incorrectly reported that Gabbard said Trump and Putin are "focused on strengthening ties." However, Gabbard was not referring to Trump's relationship with Putin but rather to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

'If this isn't a clear example of pushing a solely political narrative, then nothing is.'

Gabbard's misrepresented quotes were taken from an interview with India's NDTV released Monday.

"The ties between our two countries, the United States and India, go very, very far back," she told NDTV. "What we're continuing to see is a strengthening of that partnership and recognizing that the mutual interests of both of our countries are centered around peace, prosperity, freedom, and security."

"We have two leaders of our two great countries who are very good friends and are very focused on how we can strengthen those shared objectives and those shared interests," Gabbard added.

The AP article, titled "Gabbard says Trump and Putin are 'very good friends' focused on strengthening ties," was retracted from its website and replaced with a statement declaring that the outlet had decided to withdraw the story.

It read, "The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard saying President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin 'are very good friends.' Gabbard was talking about Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The AP will publish a corrected version of the story."

As of Tuesday morning, the article was removed from the AP's website. However, the article remains live on some news publishers that utilize the AP's feed.

The original AP article read, "U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin 'are very good friends' who are focused on ways to strengthen the bonds between the United States and Russia."

"Gabbard said ties between Russia and the U.S. go 'very far back' and that Trump is committed to expanding a relationship centered 'around peace, prosperity, freedom and security,'" it continued.

The AP claimed, "Gabbard's comments reflect the dramatic shift in U.S.-Russia relations under Trump, who has boasted of his relationship with Putin, blamed Ukraine for Russia's invasion and taken a hard line against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy."

The outlet further claimed that Gabbard had "echoed Russian propaganda about the war and expressed sympathy for Russia."

All of Gabbard's quotes mentioned in the article were her comments about India and Modi. Regardless, it claimed that her falsely attributed comments about Trump's and Putin's "friendship" had "alarmed some critics of Trump's call for warmer relations with Moscow."

Alexa Henning, Gabbard's deputy chief of staff, torched the AP for its false reporting.

"The @AP is total trash," Henning wrote in a post on X. "DNI @TulsiGabbard was referring to PM Modi & President Trump and this is the headline they publish."

"This is why no one trusts the maliciously incompetent and purposefully bias[ed] media. If this isn't a clear example of pushing a solely political narrative, then nothing is," she added.

The AP told Fox News Digital, “AP has removed its story about U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard saying President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘are very good friends’ because it did not meet our standards. We notified customers and published a corrected story with an editor’s note to be transparent about the error.”

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Gabbard makes Sen. Kelly regret questioning her remarks about Obama's regime-change ops



Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard continues to face an uphill battle to secure her confirmation as America's top intelligence chief. Although there are apparently a handful of antagonists in the GOP looking to spike her candidacy, Democrats are doing all the heavy lifting, especially when it comes to characterizing Gabbard as a toady for subversive and adversarial forces.

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.) tried to do his part Thursday, accusing Gabbard of repeating "Russian talking points" about the Obama administration's material support for Islamic terrorists in Syria. Gabbard made Kelly regret his line of attack with a short history lesson, revealing why her previous statements were as factual as they were damning.

"When Russia was denying [former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's] use of chemical weapons, they accused the U.S. of supporting terrorists," said Kelly. "This is a line Putin used frequently during the Syrian civil war as he supported Assad."

Following in the footsteps of failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who previously painted Gabbard as a Kremlin sympathizer, Kelly noted further, "In 2016, you said, 'The U.S. is providing direct and indirect support to terrorist groups in order to overthrow the Syrian government.'"

At the time, Gabbard also noted, "The U.S. government has been violating this law for years by quietly supporting allies, partners, individuals, and groups who are working directly with Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham [an offshoot of the Al-Qaeda group Al-Nusrah Front], and other terrorist groups by providing them with money, weapons, and intelligence support in their fight to overthrow the Syrian government."

— (@)

"I am interested to hear, what was your goal in saying these things?" continued Kelly. "Did you consider, before saying them, that Iran and Russia, what their motives may have been making these claims?"

Gabbard noted that she joined the military "specifically because of Al-Qaeda's terrorist attack on 9/11" and committed her life to defeating the terrorist organization, only to later learn as a member of Congress that former President Barack Obama, in an effort to overthrow Assad, "was working with, arming, and equipping Al-Qaeda in an effort to overthrow that regime, starting yet another regime change war in the Middle East."

President Donald Trump's pick for director of national intelligence referenced the CIA's Timber Sycamore program as well as the Pentagon's covert Syrian Train and Equip Program, which were both launched by the Obama administration in hopes of facilitating the fall of the Assad regime.

Under the code name Timber Sycamore, the Obama CIA began directly arming Islamic terrorists in early 2013. CIA paramilitary operatives reportedly also trained the so-called rebels to use automatic rifles, mortars, antitank guided missiles, and other weapons. The program had a price tag of over $1 billion and resembled in some ways the agency's training of the mujahideen in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

According to the New York Times, some of the weapons shipped to Jordan intended for so-called rebels made their way to the black market and were ultimately used to kill Americans. Weapons supplied under the Timber Sycamore program also made their way into the hands of Al-Nusrah Front terrorists, who fought alongside the CIA-backed militants.

'Every American deserves to know that people in our own government were providing support to our sworn enemy Al-Qaeda.'

The National Counterterrorism Center noted that the Al-Nusrah Front announced its intention to overthrow Assad in 2012, then "mounted hundreds of insurgent-style and suicide attacks against regime and security service targets across the country. The group is committed not only to ousting the regime, but also seeks to expand its reach regionally and globally." The group that Obama indirectly armed was accused of various atrocities, including the massacre of Druze villagers.

Trump ended Timber Sycamore in 2017, calling the payments to so-called rebels "massive, dangerous, and wasteful," and noting that many of the CIA-supplied weapons ended up in the hands of Al-Qaeda.

Gabbard noted that "the Department of Defense's Train and Equip program, also under President Obama, has been widely known, looked at, and studied, and resulted in over half a billion dollars being used to train what they called 'moderate rebels.' But in reality, they were fighters working with and aligned with Al-Qaeda's affiliate on the ground in Syria all to move forward with their regime change."

Gabbard, doubling down on remarks Kelly apparently found troubling, suggested that the Obama administration ignored "the obvious and now proven reality: much like in Iraq, the toppling of Gaddafi in Libya, and Mubarak in Egypt, a regime change war in Syria would likely result in the rise of Islamist extremists like Al-Qaeda taking power."

Stressing that she "shed no tears for the fall of the Assad regime," Trump's nominee stressed that "today we have an Islamist extremist in charge of Syria — someone who danced in the streets to celebrate the 9/11 attack; who ruled over Idlib with an Islamist extremist governance; and who has already begun to persecute, kill, and arrest religious minorities, including Christians in Syria."

The current interim president of Syria, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, is a terrorist who up until recently had a $10 million State Department bounty on his head and used to lead the Al-Nusrah Front, which benefited from Timber Sycamore.

"Why that should be acceptable to anyone is beyond me," added Gabbard.

After his question blew up in his face, Kelly tried once more to suggest that Gabbard has a "tendency to repeat Russian and Syrian — and, in some cases, even Iranian — information," prompting Trump's nominee to answer back with a showstopper: "Every American deserves to know that people in our own government were providing support to our sworn enemy Al-Qaeda."

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Tulsi Gabbard flip-flops on Section 702 — Trump's DNI pick now supports much-abused surveillance authority



Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard has changed her position on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the warrantless surveillance authority that was used to spy on the 2016 Trump campaign and was exploited by the FBI hundreds of thousands of times to spy on American citizens.

Gabbard told Punchbowl News last week that she will support the controversial act if confirmed as President-elect Donald Trump's director of national intelligence.

Section 702 allows the government to spy on foreign nationals outside the U.S. with the compelled aid of electronic communication service providers. While supposedly outward-facing, if an American contacts or is contacted by a foreign national over email, social media, or the phone, the American's communications could potentially be tapped, searched, and stored without a warrant.

Blaze News previously reported that the FBI has admitted that there were at least 278,000 "unintentional" backdoor search queries of the 702 database for the private communications of Americans between 2020 and 2021 alone. Among those citizens swept up into the warrantless 702 searches were Jan. 6 protesters, congressional campaign donors, and BLM protesters.

'Politicians talk a good game about civil liberties.'

In her final days as congresswoman for Hawaii, Gabbard joined Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) in advancing a bill that would have repealed the Patriot Act and killed nearly all provisions of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008.

Gabbard said in a video at the time:

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution very specifically prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures without a warrant based on probable cause. But over the last two decades, in part because of information revealed by Edward Snowden, we now know that there have been ongoing breaches of our civil liberties through programs that were instituted through the Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act, which basically allowed agencies within our government to conduct mass illegal surveillance on Americans without a warrant or probable cause.

Years later, Gabbard, still apparently a critic of Section 702, noted in a speech at CPAC, "Too many politicians talk a good game about civil liberties, but when it comes time to cast that vote on things like getting rid of secret FISA courts and protecting our Fourth Amendment rights to privacy, they vote on the side of the power elite and against liberty."

In an apparent effort to win over elements of the power elite in the U.S. Senate, Gabbard has adopted a new view on the spying authority.

Gabbard confirmed her flip-flop in a statement to CNN on Friday, noting, "Section 702, unlike other FISA authorities, is crucial for gathering foreign intelligence on non-U.S. persons abroad. This unique capability cannot be replicated and must be safeguarded to protect our nation while ensuring the civil liberties of Americans."

"My prior concerns about FISA were based on insufficient protections for civil liberties, particularly regarding the FBI's misuse of warrantless search powers on American citizens," continued Gabbard, who Trump previously indicated would champion Americans' constitutional rights in the role. "Significant FISA reforms have been enacted since my time in Congress to address these issues. If confirmed as DNI, I will uphold Americans' Fourth Amendment rights while maintaining vital national security tools like Section 702 to ensure the safety and freedom of the American people."

'IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS.'

This consequential about-face may improve Gabbard's chances of confirmation in the U.S. Senate. Her embrace of Section 702 has already won over Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford (R), a longtime supporter of the controversial spying power, who told NBC News' "Meet the Press" Sunday that Gabbard's flip-flop "was a very important piece."

"She voted against that in the House when she was a member of the House of Representatives and had said she wanted changes," said Lankford. "She's now coming and saying, 'Those changes have been done,' because even since she was in Congress, there have been quite a few changes that we've made in Congress to make sure we're protecting the civil rights of Americans."

Lankford previously suggested in a Wall Street Journal podcast on Wednesday that Gabbard should abandon her opposition to the 702 program.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, similarly appears pleased by Gabbard's change of heart, telling Punchbowl News on Thursday, "Tulsi Gabbard has assured me in our conversations that she supports Section 702 as recently amended and that she will follow the law and support its reauthorization as DNI."

Trump implored Republicans to "KILL FISA" as it was nearing its expiration date last year, noting, "IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN."

To the great satisfaction of the Biden White House, the Republican-controlled House voted 273-147 in favor of reauthorizing the surveillance bill on April 12, 2024.

Despite the rejection of multiple proposed amendments that might have protected American citizens' privacy from the spying authority Gabbard now supports, Republican Sens. Lankford, John Barrasso (Wyo.), John Boozman (Ark.), Katie Britt (Ala.), Ted Budd (N.C.), Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine), John Cornyn (Texas), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.), John Kennedy (La.), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Markwayne Mullin (Okla.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Pete Ricketts (Neb.), Mike Rounds (S.D.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Dan Sullivan (Alaska), John Thune (S.D.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Roger Wicker (Miss.), and Todd Young (Ind.) and former Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) joined forces with Democrats to ensure its reauthorization.

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Tulsi Gabbard has national security 'experts' worried: 'DNI has access to every single secret'



There is a pattern developing with regard to President-elect Donald Trump's recent nominations: He announces someone apparently well suited to executing the agenda he successfully campaigned on; those with vested interests in the status quo panic; and establishmentarians viciously attack the nominees, pleading with nominal Republicans in the U.S. Senate to prevent their confirmation.

This pattern has been repeated for multiple picks, including former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Although virtually all of Trump's nominations have ruffled feathers, his choice of Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard to serve as the director of national intelligence appears to have inspired a special kind of unease among Democratic lawmakers, the liberal media, and elements of the intelligence community.

The media

The Atlantic's Tom Nichols rushed to characterize Gabbard's nomination as a "national security risk," complaining that she previously suggested NATO might have had something to do with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and that Syria did not pose a direct threat to the United States.

"Gabbard is a classic case of 'horseshoe' politics," Nichols warned. "Her views can seem both extremely left and extremely right, which is probably why people such as Tucker Carlson — a conservative who has turned into … whatever pro-Russia right-wingers are called now — have taken a liking to the former Democrat (who was previously a Republican and is now again a member of the GOP)."

The Washington Examiner's Tom Rogan suggested that by nominating Gabbard, Trump — who was kneecapped in his first term by a malignant counterintelligence investigation and whose 2020 political adversary was given narrative cover prior to the election by CIA contractors and intelligence community alumni — "is putting his distrust of the intelligence community before the critical interests of national security."

After trotting out the Syria and Russia-themed attacks against Gabbard, then insinuating that she is a sympathizer with the communist Chinese regime, Rogan warned that if confirmed, she would supervise "all U.S. intelligence agencies' collection, analysis, and mission efforts and the production and dissemination of the U.S. government's most sensitive intelligence reporting and analysis. This includes knowledge of spies buried deep inside foreign governments and terrorist organizations."

'This appointment is sending shock waves here in the United States.'

Bill Kristol quoted Jonathan Last, editor of the neocon blog the Bulwark, as writing, "Making Gabbard DNI simply makes no sense. ... Or rather, it makes no sense for America. For Russia, DNI Gabbard makes all the sense in the world."

Last appeared particularly upset over Gabbard's opposition to fruitless foreign entanglements and ineffectual U.S. sanctions.

Dems and spooks spooked

"This appointment is sending shock waves here in the United States but also around the globe," John Brennan, former director of the CIA and chief counterterrorism adviser to former President Barack Obama, said in conversation with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace.

Brennan, one of the signatories of the infamous Hunter Biden "intel" letter, likened the 18 intelligence agencies that Gabbard would oversee to an orchestra, suggesting that she likely doesn't even know what instruments are being played.

Former Bush adviser John Bolton, a key proponent of America's disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq, suggested to NewsNation's "The Hill" that with Trump's "announcement of Tulsi Gabbard to be the director of national intelligence, he's sending a signal that we have lost our mind when it comes to collecting intelligence."

One former senior intelligence official who spoke under the condition of anonymity told Politico that the choice was a "left turn and off the bridge."

Another intelligence official warned that America's allies, including Israel, might withhold information from Washington if Gabbard were the DNI, adding, "What some allies share may now be shaped by political goals rather than professional intelligence sharing."

An unnamed "Western security source" similarly suggested to Reuters that Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand may be less forthcoming about the intelligence they collect, stressing that foreign nations believe Trump's appointments all lean in the "wrong direction."

Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger (Va.), a former CIA officer who now warms a chair on the House Intelligence Committee, suggested on X that Gabbard, who served in Iraq and Kuwait, would be an oath-breaker.

"The men and women of the U.S. Intelligence community honor their oaths by collecting the vital intelligence that keeps our fellow Americans safe. The global threats we face require a Director of National Intelligence who would do the same. Tulsi Gabbard is not that person," wrote Spanberger.

The former spook, echoing Nichols, appears to have unwittingly highlighted what has the establishment panicking, telling The Hill, "The DNI has access to every single secret that the United States has, every single bit of information that we know. … It's the keys to the intelligence community kingdom."

Larry Pfeiffer, former chief of staff at the CIA under the Bush administration, told The Hill, "Some of the statements she has made through the years that sound like they came right out of the Kremlin's talking points paper are a little bit alarming. Her cozying up to Bashar al-Assad and being an apologist for him as well just raise questions in my mind. Is that really the best person to put in charge of this very complicated, very sensitive operation that is the U.S. intel community?"

Jamil Jaffer, a former House Intelligence Committee staffer and national security prosecutor, told The Hill, "What is unusual here is you've got somebody who's had such a long and vociferous track record of saying things that are factually incorrect, that seem to give aid and comfort to U.S. adversaries and that undermine the very people they should be representing at the principals committee."

As with Hegseth and Gaetz's critics, those denouncing Gabbard appear to be exponents of the very worldview and policy conventions that Trump was effectively elected to obliterate.

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Tulsi Gabbard announces she is joining the GOP: 'The Democrat Party has no home for people like us'



Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard helped torpedo Kamala Harris' presidential campaign in 2020.

Keen to do so once again but also to spare America from losing further blood and treasure abroad as a consequence of the interventionism favored by the vice president and her new buddy Liz Cheney, the former congresswoman endorsed President Donald Trump in August, stressing that unlike Harris, he would "do the work and walk us back from the brink of war."

At a rally Tuesday in Greensboro, North Carolina, the former Democrat went a step farther, announcing that she was joining the Republican Party.

"To those of you here and those watching at home who are independent people like myself, who love our country and are committed to the Constitution and to freedom, the Democrat Party has no home for people like us," said Gabbard. "But we do have a home in the Republican Party."

"It is because of my love for our country and specifically because of the leadership that President Trump has brought to transform the Republican Party and bring it back to the party of the people and the party of peace that I'm proud to stand here with you today, President Trump, and announce that I'm joining the Republican Party," added the former Hawaii congresswoman, to the sound of thunderous applause.

'A vote for President Trump is a vote for peace.'

Earlier in her remarks, Gabbard noted that she spent over 20 years as a Democrat but found that the party had morphed into something unrecognizable.

Gabbard noted that like her party, Harris is "anti-freedom, she is pro-censorship, she is pro-open\-borders, and she is pro-war."

The former congresswoman is particularly sensitive to Harris' disregard for American freedoms, having learned over the summer from several federal Air Marshal whistleblowers that the Biden-Harris administration was apparently surveilling her via a program designed to identify and monitor potential terrorists.

Gabbard's alleged enrollment in the Transportation Security Administration's Quiet Skies program was all the more offensive because she enlisted in the military in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, countering extremism across three war zones.

The congresswoman previously told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck, "The only assumption that I can make is that they're coming after me because of my speaking the truth and revealing who they really are."

While continued abuses under a possible Harris administration are clearly a concern for Gabbard, she underscored that the choice between Trump and the vice president was ultimately a choice between peace and war.

"President Trump has pledged to stop wars, not start them," Gabbard told the crowd Tuesday in Greensboro. "And this is why, in the eyes of the Kamala Harris, Dick Cheney Democrat Party, they will do everything possible to try to destroy him."

Noting that Election Day was just two weeks away, Gabbard impressed upon the crowd that "a vote for President Trump is a vote for secure borders and safe communities, and a vote for President Trump is a vote for peace here in America and around the world."

The pro-peace message at the Trump rally was at odds with the message advanced at Harris' phony town hall Monday in Royal Oak, Michigan, where the vice president and Liz Cheney criticized Trump's plan to end the war in Ukraine.

Cheney said, "I think that if you look at where the Republican Party is today, there's been a really dangerous embrace of isolationism."

Harris signaled her agreement, stating, "Isolationism, which is exactly what Donald Trump is pushing — pull out of NATO, abandon our friends — isolationism is not insulation. It is not insulation. It will not insulate us from harm in terms of our national security."

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Tulsi Gabbard endorses Trump, casting him as the pro-peace, pro-freedom candidate



Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard helped put a nail in the coffin of Kamala Harris' presidential campaign in 2020. It appears as though she is ready to help deny the California Democrat the White House once again.

Days after meeting with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago for a reported "practice session," Gabbard announced Monday to an energized crowd at the 146th general conference and exhibition of the National Guard Association in Detroit that she was formally endorsing Harris' opponent.

"I am proud to stand here before you today," said Gabbard. "Whether you are a Democrat, a Republican, or an Independent, if you love our country as I do — if you cherish peace and freedom as we do — I invite you to join me in doing all that we can to save our country and elect President Donald J. Trump and send him back to the White House to do the tough work of saving our country and serving the people."

Gabbard explained precisely why she believes it is imperative that Trump win.

Whereas she has previously indicated that Harris would both continue putting America last and dutifully serve the military industrial complex, Gabbard expressed confidence that Trump would alternatively "do the work to walk us back from the brink of war."

'We can't allow our county to be destroyed by politicians who will put their own power ahead of the interests of the American people.'

"We cannot be prosperous unless we are at peace," continued the former congresswoman. "We can't live free as long as we have a government that is retaliating against its political opponents and undermining our civil liberties, weaponizing our very institutions against those they deem as a threat. Kamala Harris has done this over the last three and a half years. She won't hesitate to continue that if she is elected as president."

Gabbard revealed to nationally syndicated radio host and co-founder of Blaze Media Glenn Beck earlier this month that the Biden-Harris administration was allegedly surveilling her via a program designed to identify and monitor potential terrorists.

— (@)

After noting Monday that Trump has been the primary target for the Biden-Harris administration "because they don't want us as voters to even have the option to vote for him," Gabbard indicated that it is critical for Americans now to "stand together to reject this anti-freedom culture of political retaliation and abuse of power."

"We can't allow our county to be destroyed by politicians who will put their own power ahead of the interests of the American people, our freedom, and our future," added Gabbard.

In her speech, the former congresswoman who served in both Iraq and Kuwait, also made clear that Trump takes seriously "the grave responsibility that a president bears for every single one of our lives."

Earlier in the day, Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery to honor the lives of the 13 American service members who lost their lives during the Biden-Harris administration's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

According to Gabbard, Trump evidenced this understanding in part by breaking from the tradition set by his establishmentarian predecessors and not starting any new wars, but rather taking "action to deescalate."

Trump also had kind words to say about Gabbard, noting, "She's got great common sense, great spirit, and she loves our country."

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Tulsi Gabbard fears for family and freedom upon learning Harris admin allegedly targeted her for surveillance



Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) revealed Friday to nationally syndicated radio host and co-founder of Blaze Media Glenn Beck precisely how devastated she was to learn that the Harris administration may be surveilling her via a program designed to identify and monitor potential terrorists.

While she feels personally betrayed — having enlisted in the military in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, countering extremism across three war zones — Gabbard expressed concern that her family could be at risk and that she is "not the only veteran or service member who they have chosen to put on this list."

"This goes against the core of our First Amendment, which our founders intentionally put in place to ensure our protected speech, whether we be praising the government or we be criticizing our government," said Gabbard. "That is core to the founding of who we are as a country."

Several Federal Air Marshal whistleblowers recently came forward with information indicating that Gabbard may be enrolled in the Transportation Security Administration's Quiet Skies program.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the Quiet Skies program adds "another layer of risk-based security by identifying individuals who may pose an elevated security risk in addition to individuals on other watch lists maintained by the Federal government, so that TSA can take appropriate actions to address and mitigate that risk."

UncoverDC reported that the whistleblowers initially shared evidence of Gabbard's placement on what is effectively a terror watch list with Sonya LaBosco, executive director of the Air Marshal National Council. LaBosco subsequently revealed at least one of the marshals is willing to go on the record with the relevant evidence.

'They see those of us who rightly criticize our governments, and their corruption, and their abuse of power, as a domestic threat.'

Unbeknownst to Gabbard — at least until this week — every time she got on an airplane, there with her were two explosive detection canine teams, a transportation security specialist, a plainclothes TSA supervisor, and three Federal Air Marshals, said Bosco.

When pressed on allegations about Gabbard's listing, a TSA spokesman recently told investigative reporter Matt Taibbi:

TSA uses multi-layered security processes to protect the nation's transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce. TSA's Quiet Skies program uses a risk-based approach to identify passengers and apply enhanced security measures on some domestic and outbound international flights.

The spokesman added, "To safeguard sensitive national security measures, TSA does not confirm or deny whether any individual has matched to a risk-based rule. These rules are applied to a limited number of travelers for a limited period of time. Simply matching to a risk-based rule does not constitute derogatory information about an individual."

There has been speculation that Gabbard's criticism of the Washington establishment's reflexive interventionism and her departure from the Democratic Party may have prompted her alleged enrollment in Quiet Skies program. Gabbard is also unlikely to have made friends in the current administration by tanking Kamala Harris' presidential bid in 2020.

While mystified by "their insane, tyrannical thinking," Gabbard told Beck that her targeting by the Democratic administration would be par for the course given that "we've already seen proof over these last four years ... they will weaponize any levers of power they have within the government to go after those who they deem to be a threat to their power, who they deem to be a political opponent."

Beck alluded to failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's Oct. 17, 2019, smear against Gabbard, when she suggested Gabbard is "the favorite of the Russians. ... Yeah, she's a Russian asset."

"They see those of us who rightly criticize our governments, and their corruption, and their abuse of power, as a domestic threat," continued Gabbard. "They say so publicly. They say, 'Hey, those who criticize public institutions may be domestic extremists or terrorists.'"

In recent years, it has taken a whole lot less than criticism of the state to warrant suspicion as a potential domestic terrorist.

For instance, Blaze News reported late last year on a report from the House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government indicating that the FBI "abused its counterterrorism tools to target Catholic Americans as potential domestic terrorists."

"The only assumption that I can make is that they're coming after me because of my speaking the truth and revealing who they really are," Gabbard told Beck.

The former congresswoman indicated that the possibility of her enrollment in Quiet Skies is already having a chilling effect — that she now faces the "constant stress of knowing that I am being surveilled by my government and wondering if and how they are doing that. How are they monitoring my movement? Are they listening to my phone calls? Are they reading my emails and text messages?"

Gabbard emphasized that it is impossible to live freely under the thumb of a regime that has "no hesitation in weaponizing whatever they can get their hands on."

Such a state of play is reminiscent of "the Stalin approach," she added. "Find me the man, and I'll tell you the crime."

— (@)

U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who penned a letter to TSA Administrator David Pekoske Thursday regarding the veracity of the whistleblowers' claims, said he found the allegations "profoundly troubling."

Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, indicated that his outfit is "launching a multipronged legal effort not only to defend Tulsi Gabbard but to defeat the weaponization of government against conservatives, our military, and the free speech of all Americans once and for all."

The ACLJ intends to file Freedom of Information Act requests with the TSA, the DHS, and the FBI, seeking answers about Gabbard's alleged targeting.

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